Trump seeks to limit legal options for fired federal workers [View all]

Source: Reuters

February 9, 2026 9:07 AM EST Updated 5 hours ago


WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The Trump administration is trying to make it harder for fired federal employees to contest their dismissal, according to a government plan released on Monday, by limiting their right to appeal their dismissal to an independent board.

The Office of Personnel Management, the federal government’s HR office, proposed ending the right of fired federal employees to dispute their dismissal before the independent Merit Systems Protection Board, according to the plan. Instead, fired workers would need to appeal to OPM, an office whose director reports to U.S. President Donald Trump.

If the proposal is implemented, it would build on Trump's earlier efforts to shrink the size of the federal government. Trump has made mass layoffs of government employees a centerpiece of his second term. At the same time, he has undermined avenues for those same workers to dispute their dismissals, including by firing members of government offices that enforce job protections for federal employees.

The Merit Systems Protection Board, the organization listed in Monday's proposal, mediates disputes between federal workers and their employers. The board saw a spike in new cases after Trump took office for the second time. The board's caseload jumped 266% from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025, according to government records, compared to the same period the year before.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-seeks-limit-legal-options-fired-federal-workers-2026-02-09/

---

He has all but disintegrated the MSPB.

Feds currently have several options to protest/appeal adverse personnel actions (depending on what is alleged as the reason) -

Union grievance

MSPB

EEOC

Courts

With his torpedoing unions, the MSPB and completely co-opting the EEOC for ridiculous work doing the opposite of what they were intended to do, there would be nothing left but to clog the courts even more.